Area businessman Edward Czerkies has donated $750,000 to Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center as a tribute to his late wife, Carolyn J. Czerkies.

Czerkies’ endowment will support the medical center’s emergency department renovation. This includes the expansion and modernization of the patient registration and waiting areas and a redesigned patient care area that will be used for triage and the treatment of minor injuries and illness.

In honor of Czerkies donation the newly renovated emergency department will be renamed the Carolyn J. Czerkies Emergency Department, with a formal dedication to take place this spring.

Czerkies has made multiple significant contributions to area including $1.5 million to the New Lenox Silver Cross hospital in 2011.